How to Schedule and Publish Posts to Instagram via Hootsuite

How to connect your Instagram account to Hootsuite

Now that Instagram—one of the fastest-growing mobile social networks—is integrated within the Hootsuite platform, you can manage, schedule, and monitor your Instagram activity in a whole new way.

Schedule a month’s worth of Throwback Thursday posts in advance, for example, and publish them in just a few taps when the time comes. You can also set up streams to monitor your own Instagram posts, your scheduled posts, specific users or hashtags, locations, and more—all from the same Hootsuite dashboard you use to manage your other social networks.

Do you have multiple team members managing your Instagram strategy? With Hootsuite Team, Business and Enterprise, you can now share access to Instagram profiles without sharing passwords, and collaborate through assignments. There is an additional approval function as well for Hootsuite Business or Enterprise customers.

Note: As Instagram requires posts to be published through its mobile app, you need to have both the Instagram app, as well as the latest Hootsuite mobile app to publish to Instagram. You can download it on the iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store.

Add an Instagram account to Hootsuite

Through the Hootsuite web dashboard:

Click on your Profile Icon in the launch menu and then Add a Social Network.

Through the Hootsuite mobile dashboard (iOS and Android):

You will be auto-subscribed to push notifications. Note: If push notifications are disabled for the Hootsuite mobile app, you must enable them.

Schedule and publish to Instagram

In the Compose box, add the text for your caption (hashtags and emojis are fully supported) and attach your photo or video. Then click Send Now, Schedule, or Autoschedule.

At the time you chose to publish, you will receive a push notification from your Hootsuite mobile app. Note: Hootsuite push notifications must be turned on to publish to Instagram.

Tap on the push notification on your phone to be directed into the Hootsuite mobile app. Review the post and when you are ready to publish, tap Open In Instagram. Note: Ensure you are logged into the Instagram account you wish to publish to.

Once in the Instagram app, you can select your desired orientation for photos or use Instagram’s Boomerang or Layout apps. Once you are done with this step, tap next. Complete your image edits and/or add an Instagram filter, tap next.

Important note: If you manage multiple Instagram accounts, your photo or video will be posted to the account your Instagram app is currently logged in to, even if it differs from the account selected within Hootsuite. Make sure you are logged in to the correct Instagram account.

Set up search streams and start engaging on Instagram

Now that you’ve set up your Instagram accounts and have learned how to publish and schedule content through your Hootsuite dashboard, it’s time to start monitoring and engaging.

Learn how to set up search streams for relevant hashtags on Instagram, engage with your community, and amplify Instagram content across your other social networks by watching the short video below.

Additional benefits

Within the Hootsuite mobile app, users also have the ability to:

Zoom in on images

Re-share images to other social network profiles

Save images to your mobile device

Of course, the Hootsuite App Directory has a number of apps that you can use to further enhance your Instagram experience. Vidpiq and TrendSpottr will allow you to conduct geo-targeted searches, and discover what’s trending.